title: Preschoolers' observed temperament and psychiatric disorders assessed with a parent diagnostic interview.
abstract: Evidence supports the role of temperament in the origins of psychiatric disorders. However, there are few data on associations between temperament and psychiatric disorders in early childhood. A community sample of 541 three-year-old preschoolers participated in a laboratory temperament assessment, and caregivers were administered a structured diagnostic interview on preschool psychopathology. In bivariate analyses, temperamental dysphoria and low exuberance were associated with depression; fear, low exuberance, and low sociability were associated with anxiety disorders; and disinhibition and dysphoria were associated with oppositional defiant disorder. Although there were no bivariate associations between temperament and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, disinhibition emerged as a unique predictor in multivariate analyses. Findings indicate that the pattern of relations between temperament and psychopathology in older youth and adults is evident as early as age 3.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20794, USA. ldougherty@psyc.umd.edu
authors.forename: Lea R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Dougherty
authors.forename: Sara J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Bufferd
authors.forename: Gabrielle A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dyson
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Olino
authors.forename: C Emily
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Durbin
authors.forename: Daniel N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Klein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012306:Risk; D013694:Temperament